Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s impressive 122-113 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers (21-4) on Sunday night at Kaseya Center to improve to 3-0 on its four-game homestand. The Heat (12-10) now enters a three-day break before closing the homestand on Thursday against the Toronto Raptors:
The Heat picked up its best win of the season and is trending in a positive direction.
The Cavaliers entered Sunday with the NBA’s top record and as one of only five teams around the NBA with both a top-10 offensive rating and top-10 defensive rating this season.
But the Heat handed the Cavaliers their fourth loss of the season behind an excellent performance from Tyler Herro and quality team-wide play on both ends of the court.
The Heat led for most of night, entering halftime with an eight-point advantage and pulled ahead by as many as 15 points in a third quarter that Herro dominated.
Herro exploded for 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field, 4-of-4 shooting on threes and 3-of-3 shooting from the foul line in the third quarter to lift the Heat to a 10-point lead entering the fourth period.
The Cavaliers made a late push, cutting the deficit to five points with 8:28 to play.
That’s the closest Cavaliers would get, as the Heat responded with a 22-12 run to pull ahead by 15 points with 52.2 seconds remaining and put the game away.
Herro finished the win with a game-high 34 points on 10-of-19 shooting from the field, 5-of-9 shooting from three-point range and 9-of-9 shooting from the foul line, six rebounds and seven assists. He scored all 34 of his points in the first three quarters.
Duncan Robinson added 23 points on 4-of-6 shooting from behind the arc.
Bam Adebayo contributed 16 points, 13 rebounds and six assists.
Jimmy Butler closed with 18 points, three rebounds, five assists and two steals.
Darius Garland scored a team-high 23 points for the Cavaliers, but Donovan Mitchell was limited to 12 points on 5-of-16 shooting from the field.
The Heat took advantage of an injury to one of the Cavaliers’ best players.
One night after scoring a career-high 41 points in a win over the Charlotte Hornets, Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley couldn’t finish Sunday’s game in Miami.
Mobley sprained his left ankle early in the game, but was able to finish the first half before being ruled out for the second half because of the injury. He recorded four points on 2-of-4 shooting from the field, three rebounds and one steal in 12 first-half minutes prior to exiting the contest.
Caris LeVert began the second half in Mobley’s place in the Cavaliers’ starting lineup.
Mobley entered Sunday averaging 18.9 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.6 blocks per game this season.
The Cavaliers were also without forward Isaac Okoro, among a few others, on Sunday. Okoro, who missed his second straight contest because of a left knee contusion, has started in 14 of his 21 appearances this season.
The Heat’s new starting lineup continues to produce positive results.
The Heat went with the starting lineup of Herro, Robinson, Butler, Haywood Highsmith andAdebayo on Sunday for the ninth time in the last 10 games. The only time that the Heat didn’t use this starting lineup during this stretch came when Butler was out in Monday’s loss to the Celtics.
The Heat posted a 6-2 record in this group’s first eight starts together this season, as this lineup has outscored teams by 10.8 points per 100 possessions during that span.
That success continued against the Cavaliers, as the Heat opened Sunday’s game on a 13-6 run before making its first substitution of the night with 6:30 left in the first quarter.
The Heat’s starters then outscored the Cavaliers by two points over the first 6:06 of the second half before turning to its bench for the first time in the third quarter.
The Heat’s depth also made an appearance against the Cavaliers.
The Heat used Kevin Love, Thomas Bryant Dru Smith, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Terry Rozier off the bench to complete its 10-man rotation against the Cavaliers.
But there was one noticeable change to the bench rotation on Sunday, as Bryant played as the backup center ahead of Love for stretches of the game.
Love played in his usual spot as the Heat’s backup center when Adebayo went to the bench for the first time in the first quarter Sunday. The Cavaliers blitzed the Heat, outscoring Miami by 11 points during Love’s 4:50 stint.
So when Adebayo went to the bench for his second rest of the night in the second quarter, the Heat turned to Bryant to play in his place. The Heat was outscored by one point during Bryant’s 3:28 stint.
Bryant also played as the Heat’s backup center in the second half on Sunday.
It’s worth noting that Smith contributed solid minutes off the bench for the second straight game. Smith totaled 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting from the field and 3-of-6 shooting on threes, four rebounds and two assists in 26 minutes on Sunday.
The Heat had 14 of its 17 players available on Sunday. The three unavailable Heat players were Pelle Larsson (sprained right ankle), Josh Christopher (G League) and Kel’el Ware (G League).
The only available Heat players who did not get into Sunday’s game were Alec Burks, Keshad Johnson, Nikola Jovic and Josh Richardson.
After being pulled from the starting lineup and to a bench role, Rozier continues to deliver up-and-down play.
Rozier started in his first 12 appearances of the season, but Sunday marked his eighth straight appearance off the bench after being moved to a reserve role.
Rozier finished Sunday’s win with 14 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field and 2-of-5 shooting on threes, nine rebounds and three assists in 28 minutes just one night after going scoreless and taking three field-goal attempts in 16 minutes off the bench during Saturday’s win over the Phoenix Suns.
Following that quiet performance against the Suns, Rozier took a more aggressive approach against the Cavaliers. He tied Herro with a team-high nine field-goal attempts in Sunday’s first half before taking five more shots in the second half.
Miami Herald
305-376-4991
Anthony Chiang covers the Miami Heat for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and was born and raised in Miami.